10 Very Bad WWE Ideas That Only Lasted 1 Day
4. Rufus “Pancake” Patterson
We've not yet quite reached the period where 2010s WWE will be placed under a microscope, beyond some of the enormous high points such as the rise of The Shield, the success of Daniel Bryan, the brief hope for the future between 2016-208.
And, of course, CM Punk's pipe bomb.
It might not get as much play from official sources as it used to, but the message is still loud and clear as result of how prophetic his words were. Vince McMahon did go from millionaire to billionaire again, but WWE morphed into a flimsy content production company rather than a creative endeavour to make it so.
But what's any of that got to do with Titus O'Neil in a wig playing his apparent uncle Rufus "Pancake" Patterson? Well, nothing and everything, but the character lasted a day and was so poorly defined that it spoke as much to CM Punk's complaints as any failed endeavour of the day.
Cena was headed towards a monster rematch with The Rock in March 2013, but all WWE can do anymore is WWE, so out went The Prime Time Players to confound and confuse 'The Champ' with this diversionary nonsense. Rufus had gout, a bad back, and didn't remotely help partner Darren Young in the 4-minute squash that followed.
It's wrestling, try anything once, yes. But at least try, eh? The low effort was barely obscured here, foreshadowing plenty more of that in the years to come.